Marcus Quere wasted no time becoming Colorado's first sub-2 800 of 2016. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
Fossil Ridge hosted the groundbreaking event of the season yesterday, and there are more than a couple gems to be found in the results.
Among the boys takeaways from yesterday afternoon into evening:
- The Fort Collins boys are loaded in the sprint department. That 43.57 in the 4x100--as good as it is this early in the season--would appear to be only the tip of the iceberg for this group.
- Marcus Quere swiftly put an end to the 2016-without-a-sub-2-in-the-800 business. It probably won't be long before we see Quere dropping some nice 1600 and 3200 times as well.
- Berthoud's John Koclanes has to be wishing we had the javelin as an official event in Colorado.
- Gift Chinda, of course, did a little indoor work in the horizontal jumps, but he was well out ahead of the fields on Thursday just the same.
- Bryan Hird at 9:38.80 to open the season in the 3200? Wow.
- And, if you're 4A, you should be keeping a sharp eye on Mountain View's relays. Shame on you, though, if you didn't already know that.
The girls had a few takeaways of their own
- It's probably a bit early to wonder if Audra Koopman is ditching the long jump, but opening at 5-4 in the high jump certainly does suggest she isn't limited to the events she's relied on in the past.
- I'm not sure how well the shot put would or would not work for Chloe Woest, but you have to think she has some serious multi event potential.
- On your list of new people to watch this season, add Callin Naddy. 5:24 to open the season in the 1600 isn't bad at all. That's a five-second PR straight out of the gate. Later, Naddy came back and won the 800 in 2:28. Teammate Kacey Doner won the 3200 in 11:16. Lobo Distance is on the move.
- Gabriella McDonald made relatively easy work of winning both throws. That much isn't much changed from last year.